Halloween Lunacy
by snowdragonct
Summary: When the five pilots encounter a mystery just days before Halloween, it sucks the fun right out of the season. Who do you trust when nothing is what it seems to be?
1. Rumors

Disclaimer: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing or the characters, more's the pity. This is for fun...no profit involved.

Warnings: swearing, non-explicit yaoi, violence, spookiness

Pairings: 1X2, 3X4 implied (not really important to the plot)

A/N: This story was written at the suggestion of kidishcaresh, as a group Halloween project. While I'd hoped to have it all done before the big day, I at least have it nearly finished, and will try to have it complete and posted within a couple of days.

**HALLOWEEN LUNACY  
**

**Chapter One: Rumors  
**

In retrospect, I truly believe Duo was to blame. For _all _of it. He was the one who started the nonsense talk around the coffee machine at Preventer's Headquarters.

"I'm tellin' ya. She's not _human_."

He was gesturing wildly with a sugar-covered donut, spewing white powder around as he ranted.

"I was at the far end of the hall and she heard me. There's just no way anyone normal could hear from that distance!"

"Maybe the acoustics were just right," Quatre suggested, nibbling more sedately on his croissant.

"Or she has a bug planted by the elevators to catch what agents chat about on their way out," Trowa added.

"Or Maxwell is just _that _loud," Wufei piped up with a malicious smirk.

"I was whispering," Duo said, narrowing his eyes scathingly.

"Your whisper is another man's shout," Wufei intoned, sounding a bit like a really lame fortune cookie.

"I'll have you know, I can be as quiet as anyone!" Duo asserted. His gaze turned to me. "Right, 'Ro?"

I probably turned an interesting shade of red, recalling an impromptu session of lovemaking in a janitor's closet just that morning when we first arrived at work. He had, in fact, been very quiet, stifling his moans against my neck.

I adjusted my collar slightly to be sure the resultant mark was still invisible. "Yes, you can be quiet," I replied dutifully.

Quatre was giving me a suspicious look, and I wondered, not for the first time, how much longer Duo and I could pull off the "not involved" act. We were already roommates. Everyone knew we were best friends. It wasn't a stretch for people to infer there was more to it. Especially empathic people.

"I'm just saying," Duo growled. "Une is either some super-human, genetically engineered clone, or a freakin' robot. Nobody could have ears that sharp and still be an average human being."

"Perhaps she's above average," Quatre suggested.

"And perhaps she's a Stepford creation," Duo shot back.

"A what?" Wufei frowned, sipping his tea and looking half annoyed and half intrigued.

"Didn't you ever see The Stepford Wives?" Duo asked, looking shocked. "It was a movie. The wives were all perfect. The town was perfect. Turned out they were all robots!"

Trowa snorted skeptically. "Where do you dream these things up, Duo? A movie? Who'd make a movie based on such a ridiculous premise?"

"A movie producer—that's who!" Duo said with certainty. "Come to our place Friday night and 'Ro and I will prove it."

Trowa looked at me, his one visible eyebrow raised in silent question.

I sighed. "Yes, we own the movie," I admitted.

Trowa looked back at Duo. "Seriously? There _is _such a thing?" He shook his head. "Never would've believed it."

"Yeah, well, you know I don't lie, Tro'. And I'm telling you, Une's hearing is freakishly good—a bit _too _good, if you ask me."

"No one asked you," came a cool voice as our boss rounded the corner, obviously having somehow heard at least part of the aforementioned conversation. "And I may be mistaken, but don't you all have cases to be working on?"

We scattered like birds, each to our own occupation. Mine just happened to be where Duo's was, as we were partnered for our current case.

"Damn," he muttered. "See what I mean?"

"I heard that!" Une called after us, throwing in a slightly malicious chuckle.

While her hearing _was _pretty impressive, I wasn't sure it fell into the category of "inhuman."

"Are you quite finished?" I asked my partner as we closed the door to his office. "We should get back to work."

"Yeah, yeah," he said absently, waving a hand dismissively as he settled at his computer and brought up the details of our case.

I didn't give the chat in the break room another thought, until nearly a week later, when things began to get—weird.

It was mid-October, and as usual, Duo was in full Halloween mode, plotting pranks on various people in the office. Loathe as I was to admit it, most of what he came up with was pretty amusing. There was the obligatory rubber snake that kept cropping up in the most unlikely places; although after it turned up in Sally's medical unit, eliciting a scream we heard several floors up, it met with a fatal accident. She returned it to my partner with a scalpel through its head—nailed to his desk.

He laughed like a maniac over that, swearing that the sacrifice was worth it, since the bug he'd planted in the med center had enabled him to record the scream for posterity, and broadcast it throughout the building.

What? You thought we could seriously have heard it from several floors away?

Anyhow, the snake was a mere appetizer. The very next day, when Wufei opened his locker in the Preventer's gym, the packaging peanuts it had been filled with came swooshing out to pool around his legs, leaving him standing knee-deep in the stuff. His pole-axed expression was well worth the half hour it took Duo to clean up the scattered white bits, after Chang walked off in a huff.

Since I hadn't helped with filling the locker, I didn't feel the least bit of obligation to help him clean up, either. But it was pretty entertaining watching him bend over to sweep up every last piece.

He has a lovely ass, in case you were wondering.

But I digress. While Duo was busy raising tiny bits of Hell, bigger things were brewing. And his somewhat innocent jokes were soon going to be forgotten in the shocking events to come.

It was just a week before Halloween, and Duo was wracking his brains to try to come up with the perfect prank for Une. The thousand assorted plastic spiders he'd decorated her office with the previous year were obviously not an option; she'd never fall for that twice. And in his zeal to outdo himself, Duo was in serious danger of crossing the line and ending up in very real trouble. I put a stop to his latest plan when the words "water balloon" and "jello" started being bandied about.

After all, Une would only put up with so much crap before she'd feel compelled to call him to task. The Preventers was a serious law enforcement group—not a high school class. Her words—not mine. And guess at whom those words were directed, when she found out Duo had something (everything!) to do with the cobwebs festooning every entry of the building one Monday morning.

I'd wondered where he spent all day Sunday. And how he avoided the surveillance cameras; I never did find out.

At any rate, Chang, Winner, Barton and I had all taken turns at trying to talk Duo out of whatever insane plan he was hatching to "pull the ultimate prank" on Une. It just could _not _end well.

But we completely forgot about pranks, payback, Halloween, and all things humorous, when a new case landed in our laps. Or actually it sort of crept in when we were least expecting it.

"Damn it, 'Ro, this computer is a total bitch!" Duo lamented, trying for the umpteenth time to do whatever it was he'd been attempting.

"It's circuit boards and wires," I corrected meticulously.

"This stupid icon won't go away, and I don't want to access the file in case there's a virus," he grumbled.

I glanced over and raised an eyebrow at the sight of a new icon on his desktop. It looked like a little half-moon, and was labeled "please read."

"Here—let me," I offered, pushing back from my desk and walking over to see if I had better luck deleting the offending file.

An hour later, I was as frustrated as Duo. No matter what I did, the stupid thing remained.

"Gotta be a virus," Duo intoned, chewing on his third donut that day. "Should we dump the secure files and reformat the whole thing?"

"No," I said peevishly, determined to thwart the invader. "I'll back up your files and then go ahead and click the stupid icon and see what happens."

"What if it's a killer virus?"

"I'll isolate the system first, so it can't spread it to other computers in the network."

"Nice. So you let _my _computer take the hit for the team, eh?"

"Something like that." I was already busy downloading his system files to an external hard drive, in case the rogue file ended up crashing it.

When I'd finished, I took a deep breath, and clicked the icon.

Instantly a box popped up, and data filled the screen.

"What the hell is that?" Duo asked, leaning over my shoulder.

"Not sure yet." I scanned through the document, trying to make sense of it. "Looks like some sort of internal memo from Lune Industries. What's Lune Industries?"

Duo darted over to my desk and quickly typed in a search for the name, while I kept reading the stray file.

"Appears to be requisitions," I murmured, homing in on several purchase orders and delivery logs. "They received a shitload of medical supplies, near as I can tell. And a lot of plastic and metal, machinery, and manufacturing equipment."

"Lune Industries," Duo said with a telltale sour tone. "Barely seems to exist."

"How's that?"

"Well, aside from a land purchase, there's nothing about them."

"A land purchase?"

"Uh-huh." Duo clicked on another link. "Hey! The place they bought is that abandoned prison they featured on an episode of Spirit Seekers awhile ago!"

Spirit Seekers was a television program whose staff went to supposedly haunted places and tried to confirm or debunk the rumors.

"You have got to be kidding me," I said flatly.

"Nope. I'm dead serious," Duo asserted. "That was the episode where Lance, the head of G.I.M.P. (Ghosts in Many Places), nearly went nuts from something tickling his ear all through the filming. They put the place on their top ten list." He shook his head. "A few months later, the State sold the place, trying to recoup the money they'd had to sink into keeping curious teenagers from exploring it. They were worried about liability, I think."

"No doubt," I said dryly. "Well what would a corporation want with an abandoned prison?"

"Sounds like they're manufacturing something," Duo said with a shrug.

"And why were we sent this data?" I added.

"Maybe it's something—illegal?" he hazarded. "Hey—that's weird!"

"What is?"

"Lune Industries was founded on the exact same day as Treize Khushrenada died."

I looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure?"

He rolled his eyes. "Um, yeah," he drawled snidely. "Tough to forget the day the biggest tyrant in history bit the big one, y'know?"

"I know that," I replied. "But how did you find out when Lune Industries was founded?"

"Hacked into the IRS database. If you're going to find tax loopholes and breaks, you've got to document your incorporation."

"Get out of the IRS, Duo," I said with a scowl.

He grinned and quickly closed the box. "Sorry. But it was useful, wasn't it?"

"Not really. Why should it matter that the company began the day Khushrenada died?"

"Because it seems—significant. Or at least it should be."

I tuned him out, as he chattered on about Treize's demise, and phony tax shelters being used to hide Romefeller funds, because I'd found something far more important to focus on.

"Duo—."

"—with some of the tax laws, they might pay virtually nothing—."

"Duo!"

He stopped and looked quizzically at me. "What?"

"We've got a problem." I gestured him to join me at the screen. "Not only has the company amassed a very suspicious list of supplies, but whoever sent this information added a warning that there are ties between Lune Industries and the upper levels of the Preventer organization."

His eyes got very round, and so did his mouth.

I resisted the urge to kiss that "o," and brought up more information, not liking what I found, at all. "Do me a favor, love?" I asked quietly, loathe to stop reading. "Casually round up the others and get them in here? Quietly. Not a word to anyone."

"Not even a heads up to Une?"

"Especially her."

"Jesus," I heard him whisper. Then I felt the brush of a quick kiss on my cheek and he was gone, darting out the door with almost inhuman speed.

Moments later, he returned with Quatre, Trowa and Wufei in tow.

"What's the meaning of this?" Wufei asked loudly as he was rather bodily pushed into the room.

Duo shut the door and locked it, leaning back against the portal with crossed arms. "Tell 'em what you've found, 'Ro."

"Not entirely sure yet," I admitted. "But something is up at an old, abandoned prison outside the city. I've forwarded all the data to my laptop, and I think we should leave this building before we examine it."

"Leave?" Wufei demanded. "It's the middle of the work day, Heero."

"I know that. And I'm not suggesting we all take the afternoon off. It would look too suspicious. We should meet right after work."

"Suspicious?" Quatre asked, latching onto my previous sentence. "To whom?"

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it, 'Ro?" Duo told him. But his dark, indigo gaze remained fixed on me.

"Look, Duo received a file today, from an unknown source who suggests we trust no one while investigating the lead that was sent. I consider the five of us in this room to be the only people above suspicion in this matter."

"What 'matter'?" Trowa asked astutely.

"As near as I can figure, someone's manufacturing weapons for some sort of army."


	2. Research

Disclaimer: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing or the characters, more's the pity. This is for fun...no profit involved.

Warnings: swearing, non-explicit yaoi, violence, spookiness

Pairings: 1X2, 3X4 implied (not really important to the plot)

A/N: I'll try to have the rest of this up later today, but no promises. Depends on how crazy work is, and whether I find time at lunch, and if I can write after work, or have to help the ex-to-be work on the porch, which is finally coming along.

**HALLOWEEN LUNACY**

**Chapter Two: Research**

After the bombshell I'd dropped, all five of us more or less slipped into soldier mode, finishing out our work day with ruthless efficiency, and clocking out almost as one, before proceeding back to the apartment Duo and I shared.

We were settled at the kitchen table around my laptop by the time the evening news was coming on. Needless to say, we had no interest in a boring broadcast; our minds were far more occupied with the data that lay before us.

"Explain," Wufei demanded, fixing both Duo and me with a piercing gaze.

"As I told you," I said carefully. "A message was sent to Duo's computer today. It appears to be from some inside source—someone who wishes to remain anonymous, but tip us off about a threat to the peace we fought so hard to achieve."

I proceeded to show them the lists of supplies and internal memos we'd been sent.

"How odd," Quatre commented, speaking up for the first time. "There appear to be as many medical supplies as there are materials for manufacturing weapons. There's microscopes, sterile solutions—things more suited to a hospital than a weapons factory."

"Yes, but those shipments of plastic and steel could be part of a new gun or missile," Duo pointed out.

"It mentions a 'human interface circuit,'" Trowa pointed out. "Maybe a way a soldier could control it from a distance? Or something to improve reaction time?"

"Like the Zero system?" Quatre asked in horror.

"Those all could be part of almost anything," Wufei said sternly. "We're not going to find anything out by looking at schematics and requisition lists. We need some firsthand information."

"Has anyone from the State, or an outside authority been in there since the new owners took over?" Quatre wondered.

I scrolled through more of the files. "No. The proprietors claim it's a toy manufacturing facility. But apparently that's just a cover, if the information we've been sent can be believed. More is being manufactured there than just innocent toys and dolls."

"Mobile dolls?" Duo asked in a whisper, voicing our biggest fear.

None of us wanted another war. We'd given up our youth and innocence to end the last one. And we were still giving, in order to preserve the hard-won peace. If someone was making weapons of mass destruction, we would make it our personal vendetta to end their work—and if necessary, their lives.

"What's our first move?" Duo asked the room at large.

"Infiltration," Trowa replied matter-of-factly. "We need to get inside that facility and take a look at what's actually going on."

"Wouldn't data gathering tell us just as much?" Quatre asked rather hopefully. "Surely we can infer what they're up to if we study their inventory and deduce what could be made from it."

"That's assuming those inventory lists contain truthful information," Duo noted. "Maybe what they've listed as plastic molds are actually plastic explosives. And maybe sterile saline is a code for nitroglycerin or some other liquid. Without getting inside the place and procuring a few samples, we'll never know."

"And _why _shouldn't we bring this to Une's attention?: Wufei asked coolly. "She's our commander; head of the entire Preventer's organization. Surely _she's _above suspicion."

To my surprise, Duo nodded his head in agreement. "I'm with 'Fei. No matter how much I tease the scary lady, I really do respect her. She may be a hard ass; but she's also more committed to protecting the peace than anyone I know."

"The informant very clearly stated that Lune Industries has some sort of 'in' with the highest levels of the Preventers."

"Well Peacecraft is second to Une," Duo mentioned. "And I'd be a lot more suspicious of him, considering he once tried to destroy the Earth."

Quatre's attention seemed to be fixed on my computer, as he studied the facts and figures displayed on the screen. "Lune?" he said pensively.

"Maybe it's supposed to be pronounced 'loony,'" Duo suggested with a grim smirk. "It'd fit, if the bastards want to start another war."

"Is that their goal—or are they simply after a conquest?" Wufei proposed. "In this era of peace, perhaps they think they can amass a force capable of running roughshod over any opposition. The Preventers are well-trained and organized, but limited in numbers."

"And if someone in the upper ranks is part of their scheme, they might be able to find out our strategy if we mount a defense," Trowa added.

"Lune," Quatre repeated. And then he smiled.

We all stared at him as if he were a bit daft.

"L. Une," he said slowly and carefully.

"Shit!" Duo exploded. "It can't be!"

"I don't know," I said dubiously, thinking it seemed pretty obvious now that Quatre had pointed it out.

"You mean to say you believe that Une's behind some sort of scheme to take over the world?" my lover blurted.

"It—wouldn't be the first time," Quatre replied with a small shrug.

"Yes, but—." Duo floundered to a halt, unhappy with the conclusions being forced upon us.

"I say we confront her with this," Wufei said firmly. "If the five of us go to her office and bring our suspicions to light, she can't possibly expect to continue on the course she's begun."

"You talk like it's a foregone conclusion she's part of this," Trowa said with a frown. "Perhaps the company name is merely designed to make us doubt her."

"Oh—yes!" Duo said hopefully. He really seemed to dislike the notion that our leader might be embarking on another ambitious plan for world domination. And to think, his most all-encompassing goal a week earlier was to plan the perfect practical joke to perpetrate on her.

I think he was secretly quite fond of our stern, efficient boss.

"We're back where we started," Wufei spoke up. "We need to get inside that facility and actually _look _at what they're doing."

"Agreed," I said firmly.

"Agreed," Duo repeated.

Trowa nodded, and Quatre added his positive vote as well.

"Now that it's settled—when do we start?" Duo asked, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

"No time like the present," I suggested. "Let's choose roles. I'll handle knocking out their surveillance—cameras, microphones, alarms. We can pull up a blueprint of the place, and plot the best route into the storage areas, where we'd be most likely to find their projects in progress. I'll clear that route, as well as an escape."

"Sounds like a two-man job," Quatre spoke up. "I'd like to volunteer to assist. If you handle the computerized systems, I can be on hand to revamp the plan if something goes awry. Between us, we should be able to grant our infiltration team clear access and a safe exit."

"You know I'm going in," Duo pointed out, glaring at me as if expecting a disagreement. "I can pick locks, disable keypads, and steal samples with the best of 'em."

"That would be me, then," Trowa said with a firm nod. "The best. Hell, I could steal a guard's uniform without him even realizing he'd lost it—and I could play the part, too."

Wufei raised his chin a bit. "I shall gladly offer my services as backup and distraction. I will cover you both as you go in, be there to receive any data or samples you wish to pass along, and if you are discovered, I will take on any and all opposition to ensure your escape."

"We've got a plan!" Duo said with a Shinigami grin.

And so, we spent the rest of the night digging up the detailed information we'd need to break into a facility that was locked down far tighter than it had ever been when it was a prison.

We needed model numbers for locks and cameras, so we'd have the best chance at defeating their security. The names of guards and staff were equally important, in case either Duo or Trowa had to pose as an employee if discovered.

Likewise we had to spend plenty of time analyzing the layout of the place, and determining where they were most likely to store equipment, where they might do the actual assembly of whatever they were building, and where they could store the finished product, be it explosives, guns, or mobile dolls.

At some point in our planning, someone went out and brought back take out food, so we could eat and work at the same time. And someone else took the time to pass out paper plates and forks. But I couldn't say what the actual meal consisted of; I was far too engrossed in the details of our upcoming mission.

God—as much as we used the word "mission" for Preventer operations, it didn't cause the same gut-clenching reaction it did when it felt like it was just the five of us against the world. For some reason, thinking of us five Gundam pilots taking on an unknown enemy, with no backup or even sanctioning by the organization we worked for, felt way too much like those life or death missions from wartime.

"You know we have to be particularly careful not to harm anyone during this?" Quatre pointed out cautiously. "As far as we know, the place could be exactly what it claims to be—a toy factory. Those guards could be honest men doing an honest job."

"I know that," I said tightly, hating when he picked up on my emotions and responded.

"You seemed a bit—focused on the results," he said with an apologetic shrug, pointing to a marginal note I'd made, labeling the sentries as "hostiles."

Okay—so maybe it wasn't _all _empathy. The man had uncanny observational skills as well.

"We will not harm civilians," I told him firmly. "Clearly they will consider us the intruders, if we are detected, and they will be doing their job in trying to apprehend us. If that happens, we may have to surrender and accept whatever punitive legal action they may take."

"You mean—we can't even defend ourselves?" Duo demanded unhappily.

"Of course we can," I soothed. "By any non-lethal means necessary."

"And if we find a shitload of mobile dolls? Can we kick their butts _then_?"

I gave a short nod. "I'd say it would be acceptable. If they've got a completely assembled mobile doll, they know damned well how many laws they're breaking, and they should expect whatever countermeasures we take."

"That's a yes?"

"Yes."

Duo gave me a tight smile, and I caught a flicker of something in his eyes that suggested he might be in the market for a little stress relief before we embarked on such an uncertain venture. I let my gaze linger on his face just long enough for him to see the reciprocal feelings.

"So when will we move on this plan?" Wufei asked, interrupting our "moment."

"Tomorrow night," I said firmly. "It's a Friday—so we will all have the weekend off. No one will be the wiser if we have to spend all night sneaking in and out of that place. Plus, we'll have time to analyze whatever evidence we're able to gather, and still show up for work on Monday."

"Aw, man," Duo moaned. "We'll miss the annual Halloween bash the apartment complex holds every year. And I had my Jack Sparrow act down perfectly!"

"There's always next year," I told him, not at all disappointed I wouldn't have to dress like Will Turner; I hated those floppy sleeves.

"You _hope _there's next year," Wufei said coolly. "Depending on what Lune Industries has been making, we could be hip-deep in another war next Halloween."

"Am I the only one who hopes this is one big, false alarm?" Quatre said quietly.

Trowa slipped an arm across his shoulders. "Of course you're not. We all feel the same," he assured the blonde, giving him a companionable squeeze.

"Y'got that right," Duo piped up.

The others left shortly thereafter to prepare for our upcoming espionage, and they were no sooner out the door than Duo tackled me onto the couch, kissing me until we both had to come up for air.

"Y'know I love you, right?" he said breathlessly, looking down at me with those big, dark eyes and an expression that could've melted Gundanium.

"Right back at you," I said with the half-grin he'd told me drove him crazy.

"Ooo—you know what that does to me," he replied with a gratifyingly husky tone to his voice.

"I'm counting on it."

We didn't get any more mission prep done that night; but we certainly took care of enough stress relief for the next century or two.


End file.
